


The Coming of Butterflies

by WondrousWendy



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Angst, Childhood Friends, F/M, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Parenthood, Pining, Spoilers for Hades Endgame, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:16:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27033292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WondrousWendy/pseuds/WondrousWendy
Summary: For the first time, Thanatos is summoned to the surface to retrieve Zagreus's body and soul. There, amidst the beautiful garden, he confronts his feelings for Zagreus.
Relationships: Hades/Persephone (Hades Video Game), Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 647





	The Coming of Butterflies

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Пришествие бабочек](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29085663) by [Den_Allen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Den_Allen/pseuds/Den_Allen)



> So I completed my first run of Hades last night, and the scene with Persephone really ripped up my heart.

_Blood and darkness, you actually made it, Zagreus._

In the heart of the garden of eternal spring, Thanatos sees a figure adorned in fiery red clothes laying limply in the arms of a sobbing woman. He approaches slowly, lets her have all the time he can allow for Persephone to embrace her lost, now departed son once more.

No footfalls give him away. Death comes quietly, but its presence can be felt even in this beautiful space where life blooms and blossoms so effortlessly. Some of the plants curl into themselves, shirking back, torn between eternal life and the reality of inevitable demise. This is how she becomes aware of his presence.

Persephone tilts her head up to the shadowy figure hovering above her, defiant in the face of Death himself. She clutches to Zagreus tighter, perhaps unwilling to let him go, but the river Styx is already beginning to take hold of her son. It’s remarkable, as he stares down at her, how similar mother and child are in appearance, from their hair style of choice to the brightness of their green eyes. Even the way she holds herself together is so familiar.

No wonder Zagreus relentlessly pursued the truth.

Yet, how little time they have been able to share together. Thanatos suspected after overhearing a hushed conversation between Lord Hades and his own mother; Zagreus was destined to fail in the end.

“I remember when you were a mere boy,” Persephone says slowly in a pained whisper. “Clinging to your mother’s skirts, watching over your younger brother.”

Thanatos doesn’t remember seeing her in his youth, too young to stamp her presence into his memory. And yet, he does not know what to say to a comment like that—this woman, so full of life and beauty, the goddess of vegetation and eternal spring, once lived in the Lord of Death’s house. He can barely fathom a time when Hades himself was tolerable, perhaps even kind, courting the dead and the damned in the same breath in which he courted his queen.

“I know you must take him back,” Persephone says carefully, doing her best to keep her voice steady, “but before you both must go, may I ask something of you, Thanatos?”

Looking upon the teary eyed woman, Thanatos hesitates, his heart panging in his chest. He has fulfilled final requests for many dying mortals over the years; of course he shall do his best to answer her question. Silently, he nods.

“What is my son like? Surely you both have grown up together and have been close.” Persephone wipes at her eyes. “Please, tell me, has he been happy?“

Thanatos lets his feet gracefully touch the earth. For a moment, he lets his toes dig into the soft, cool grass beneath his feet. He slings his scythe across his back and then kneels down in front of her and Zagreus’s slowly withering body, which has grown so cold.

This is not the first time Thanatos has needed to deliver Zagreus’s body and soul back to the House of Hades. Countless times along Zagreus’s journey, for the prince’s trials have been turbulent and full of as many errors as there have been triumphs. He has seen the life drain from Zagreus’s body far too many times, and each experience has been harrowing, for they were friends ever since either could remember. Running around the Lord’s palace, tormenting poor Hypnos, training together under Achilles, learning the way of the universe from mother Nyx. They have been so close—and if only Zagreus knew how deep his affections for him truly were.

“Considerably happy, I would like to believe,” Thanatos remarks at last. He reaches out and runs his fingers through Zagreus’s now brittle hair. What he would give to do this with Zagreus alive and well to appreciate it.

“I am told that when he learned of your existence, he left the House of Hades without any true direction, without a plan. My mother and others have helped him as they are able, and he has been appreciative of their efforts.”

Thanatos was not there when Zagreus discovered the truth, as he should have been. Time has not stopped, for his duties have kept him busy. Mortal death never ends.

“I remember when I first was summoned to retrieve his fallen form; he lay at the feet of a wretched creature, so close to escaping Tartarus. I returned him to the House, expecting for him to stay, for him to have been discouraged by his failures.” Thanatos sighs. “Quite the opposite occurred. He has refused to give up, and he has fought and struggled at every turn, determined as ever to find you and to learn why you left. I could not tell you how many attempts it has taken for him to reach the surface, and now he has...”

“Only for him to die in my arms once more,” Persephone smiles sadly. She touches Thanatos’s cheek, a mere gentle brush of her fingertips.

For a moment, Thanatos closes his eyes. He cannot fathom how painful it must have been for Zagreus to have come so far, only to fail again.

“He spoke of you before he passed.”

Thanatos’s attention snaps to her, as if struck by Zeus’s lightning.

“Zagreus knew of course you would come. Even though dying filled us both with such grief, he looked at me, smiling through his tears, and he told me that he was grateful knowing that you would be the one to take him back once more.”

Driven speechless, Thanatos, Death Incarnate himself, kneels there silently. Like the flowers blossoming within this garden haven, Thanatos feels his heart surge with the feelings he harbors for dear Zagreus.

“I love him,” Thanatos confesses in a hushed whisper, as if he fears the dead may yet still hear. After such words are out in open air, Thanatos admonishes himself. “Yet, I know he must hate me, for I am the one who has taken him back to the place he resents time after time. What gratitude will he hold for me, now? Knowing that you are alive and well in the mortal realm, knowing that he may survive the horrors of the Underworld, only to be killed by the very world he hopes to reach every—”

Persephone shakes her head. “I know Zagreus will want to return here once more, but my son...” Persephone trails off, her gaze falling to Zagreus. “Only one other has been so grateful to share a few mere moments with me on the surface before being pulled back to the Underworld.”

Thanatos doesn’t dare speak the name. He can imagine how difficult it must be for her.

“Thanatos, my son _spoke_ of you as he passed,“ she repeats, this time with more force. “Do not think lightly of such matters of the heart.”

Thanatos wants to ask her what was said, but something catches his eye among Zagreus’s clothes. There, pinned to his breast, lies the richly colored amethyst butterfly. Thanatos touches the smoothed, carved gems and his heart twists in his chest. Yes, it is the keepsake Thanatos gave him so long ago. Has Zagreus worn it all this time?

“When his time approached, so many beautiful purple butterflies appeared around us. He reached a finger out, hoping one would land on it, and when one did, he smiled and said you would come and that he awaited your embrace.”

Thanatos wants to deny her claim, for it cannot be true. But, their time has run out. The bells of death ring in his head, echoing their haunted chime, and Thanatos knows it’s time to take Zagreus back. Already, he has remained for too long on the surface himself. The Underworld calls to him, and more souls scream out into the cold, eternal dark, begging for respite only he can provide.

When Thanatos reaches for the young prince, Persephone does not fight him. She lets Death himself take Zagreus into his arms, cradling him close to his chest.

“Even now as I look upon you, I see the admiration you hold for him. You have grown up to be an honorable man, Thanatos. You are good for him.”

Thanatos lingers no longer. He closes his eyes, and in mere moments, they are warped through space and earth, down, down, down, along the rivers of Hell, until they return once more to the blood pool within the House of Hades, which is remarkably quiet—its residents must be asleep or elsewhere in the palace.

Gracefully, Thanatos emerges from the pool holding Zagreus just above the surface. Blood slides off his warm body, so full of life once more. The flames at his feet have erupted with vigor once more. The prince has returned home, where he belongs.

“Urgh...”

Zagreus groans and tries to raise a weak hand to his forehead, but when he is stopped by Thanatos, he opens his eyes and looks up at Death.

The weary god of Death expected to see the prince scramble out of his embrace. He expected to see boiling hate in his red and green eyes. Instead, he sees relief. The prince in his arms appears to be at peace at the moment of his resurrection.

“So you saw her, then?” The prince asks.

“I did,” Thanatos says carefully. “She... She reminds me of you.”

Thanatos can understand the rage and sorrow Lord Hades must have felt when Persephone escaped from the Underworld. He does not want to let Zagreus go, but he knows he must.

Thanatos helps Zagreus onto his feet in the pool. They stand there together in silence, and he can feel Zagreus’s eyes on him, so paradoxically painful and yet so desired.

“I know you will attempt to return to her,” Thanatos sighs, his gaze downcast. “I promise I will do what I can to help you achieve that end once more.”

“Thanatos... You’re right, I will try to reach her once more.”

Yet, the pool does not ripple with movement. Thanatos raises his head to confirm this truth for himself. The prince has not rushed off, as he has done countless times before.

Instead, Zagreus extends a hand to Thanatos.

“If you can spare some time, perhaps you and I can talk? I... I’m feeling rather tired, but there’s so much I have to say about what happened up there. Few others know that world quite like you do. My mother and I spoke for some time, and some of the things she said resonated with me, and I thought perhaps...”

Thanatos tries to keep his composure despite the leap his heart takes in his chest. He lets a beat pass, and then he takes the offered hand. To his surprise, the prince smiles and raises their joined hands to his lips, where he plants a soft kiss upon Thanatos's skin.

“I don’t know if I have ever said it before, but thank you for being there, Thanatos, each and every time... You know, the first time it happened, I was quite scared, even though I knew—”

Thanatos tugs their joined hands together, pulling Zagreus into his arms, and he silences the young prince with a kiss.

When Zagreus returns the gesture, threading his fingers into Thanatos’s dark robes, Thanatos lets himself drift off to savor this moment of peace. For once, he does not hear the constant cries of the dead and dying. Instead, all he hears is the soft catch of breath slipping past Zagreus’s lips and the thud of their hearts in their chests.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading! If you enjoy this work, please leave a comment and let me know what you think! 
> 
> You can find me on twitter [@W0ndrousWendy](https://twitter.com/W0ndrousWendy)


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